Winemaker Notes
The 2023 displays beautiful complexity with layers of blackberry, black plum, and spice, accented by layers of tobacco, toast, and savory herbs. Both lush and energetic, this mouth filling Cabernet Sauvignon is ripe, round, and perfectly balanced. Silky tannins provide structure and grace, promising even greater elegance and depth with time in your cellar.
Blend: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Malbec, 7% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
- 95 Jeb Dunnuck
Not yet bottled, the 2023 TD-9 is the same blend as the 2022 and is still resting in 100% new barrels. Red and black fruits, new leather, graphite, and some floral notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, layered, and has a great finish.
Range: 93-95
- 95 James Suckling
A classic Napa Valley cabernet that shows vivid flavors of red and black cherries on a big, broad texture and full body. Fine-grained tannins add structure and shape on the palate, as brilliant raspberry and cranberry flavors meet bold and deep blackberry and blueberry notes. Drink now or hold.
- 92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Shafer's 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon TD-9 was presented prior to bottling. It's a full-bodied, ripe, opulent style, supple and not overly tannic but still has enough backbone to partner a steak. Fruit-forward and dominated by black cherries and cassis, it finishes long and mouthwatering. Barrel Sample: 90-92
- 92 Vinous
The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon TD-9 is just as expressive as it was last year. Floral and savory notes open first in a mid-weight, delicate Cabernet Sauvignon that impresses with its approachability. TD-9 represents the more lifted, delicate side of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
FROM THE WINERY
Shafer Vineyards has crafted wines in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District for nearly 50 years. The estate encompasses 240 acres of world-class vineyards, sources for Shafer’s wines — Hillside Select, Relentless, One Point Five, TD-9, and Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay.
With the 2021 vintage, TD-9 becomes Shafer Vineyard’s newest Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is a rich, vibrant expression of some of our favorite Napa Valley vineyards. The name TD-9 celebrates John Shafer’s first tractor, which he taught himself to drive in 1973 as part of the founding of the winery.
Winemaker's Comments:
In its first vintage as a Cabernet Sauvignon, TD-9 fills the glass with irresistible aromas and flavors of fresh black cherries, black currant, red plum, thyme, rose petal, and cocoa. Lush and mouth-filling, this 2021 offers the kind of complexity and structure that ensures many years of enjoyment ahead. — Elias Fernandez
Our property has been the site of grape growing and winemaking since 1880, during Napa Valley’s first boom as an American wine country. Napa’s pioneer vintners not only filled San Francisco’s wine cellars, but shipped wine across the country and earned gold medals at the 1889 Paris Exposition.
Even during Prohibition (1919 – 1931), when all wine production was essentially outlawed in the U.S., our property continued without interruption as the site of grape-growing (and we’re told a bit of secret wine was made here) by Batista and Maria Scansi, immigrants from Carlazzo, Italy.
John Shafer, a Chicago publishing executive, purchased our site in 1972 and spent the mid-1970s planting the hillside estate to Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1978 John transitioned to full-scale winemaking, making the winery’s first Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1983 John’s son, Doug Shafer, joined the winery as winemaker. The following year, Elias Fernandez joined the winery, initially as assistant winemaker.
During the following decades this team created Hillside Select and forged the trademark Shafer style of elegance, richness, and balance. In 1994 Elias earned the title of winemaker and in 2002 was named Food & Wine’s “Winemaker of the Year.” The following year he was fêted at the White House as a leader in the Latino community. Countless other honors have followed.
Today, Elias Fernandez is celebrating 40 harvests on this property. Shafer Vineyards is known as one of Napa Valley’s most celebrated historic wineries, year after year producing wines that create delicious, memorable moments wherever they are poured around the world.
As the current stewards of this land, we take inspiration from nearly 150 years of our passionate and gifted predecessors, who saw the rich promise of this site, cared for it meticulously, and preserved its beauty and power for future generations.
